The benefits of routine oil changes in an internal combustion engine are well known. Routine oil changes have been shown to increase engine life and performance. With repeated prolonged use, motor oil builds up suspended particles, metallic and non-metallic, from the abrasive and adhesive wear of engine parts against one another and from products of incomplete combustion and improper air intake. The particles, in turn, cause abrasive wear of the engine bearings, piston rings and other moving parts and the reduction of the motor oil lubricity as various additives and lubricating components become depleted. This adversely effects engine performance and if left unchanged, can destroy or cripple the engine performance.
To obtain satisfactory engine performance, changing the motor oil in an internal combustion engine is a necessary, but an undesirable, dirty and time consuming task. In currently designed vehicle, the oil pan serves the purpose of a reservoir for circulation of engine oil. Engine lubrication is generally accomplished through a gear type pump. The pump picks up engine oil from the oil pan sump, where oil is drawn up through the pick-up screen and tube and passed through the pump to the oil filter, before going to the engine oil galleries. In the filter, the oil passes through a filtering element where dirt and foreign particles are removed.
To remove the contaminated oil, the drain plug generally located in the lower most region of the oil pan is opened. Spent oil containing suspended particles is permitted to flow under gravity out of the pan into a suitable receptacle. After the spent oil is removed, the plug is replaced and fresh oil is added to the engine usually through a separate opening in the engine valve cover. The process of gravity drainage does not remove all of the spent oil, with its metallic and non-metallic particles, which stick to the internal oil passages.
It is regular practice to change the oil filter when the oil is changed, so that most of the dirt and foreign particles are removed with the old oil filter. Unfortunately, after an engine's oil and filter have been changed, the engine usually is only slightly lubricated because the oil changing process results in most of the new oil being located in the sump of the engine. As a result, a time span occurs where the engine is without proper lubrication, therefore, it is desirable to provide an oil inlet access means to the oil filter directly so that all fluid introduced into the internal combustion engine first flows through the oil filter element of the internal combustion engine and then passes through the lubrication passages within the internal combustion engine prior to accumulating within the oil pan reservoir of the internal combustion engine. This provides expedient and efficient means for purging fluid from the oil filter element, flushing contaminants from the internal passages of the lubrication system during a flushing cycle and prelubricating the lubrication system of internal passages within the internal combustion engine and recharging the oil filter with fresh oil during the fresh oil introduction phase. It is specifically desirable to provide an oil inlet access means to a main channel feeding to multiple oil filters of an internal combustion engine, wherein the access is located in a confined location having minimal surrounding space to mount the oil inlet access means.